My Neighbor Totoro

Many of you may have seen this as a kid, but perhaps not. Studio Ghibli's "My Neighbor Totoro" is definitely a classic and one that kids should definitely see!

 

This movie is about a family that moves out to the country because of their ailing mom at the hospital. When they move there, they find out that they're house is haunted with soot sprites and there are acorns all around the floors and out in the yard. The father and two young girls, Satsuki and Mei, laugh their fears away and the soot sprites move out. Later, the youngest girl, Mei (in the picture above), discovers a small "totoro" (troll) that is transparent, and as she chases him around her yard, she discovers another, larger totoro carrying a bag of acorns. As she chases them into the woods, she then enters into Totoro's (the big furry troll in the picture above) home - inside a very large camphor tree!

After tickling Totoro awake and falling asleep on top of him, Mei finds herself awake in a grove of trees where her sister, Satsuki, and her father find her. The story goes on where Satsuki is then able to see Totoro herself and the two girls have several adventures with him, including waiting for their dad at a bus stop in the rain, riding a catbus, making a forest grow in their yard, and making the wind rush by.

This story is a very adorable plot line filled with some heart warming and funny moments. The movie is rated G. If you have kids, this would definitely be something to show them! It allows the imagination to grow, in my opinion, and sets out a belief that there are amazing things out there to discover - only if they want to be!

I love this movie, personally, as it was actually one of my first anime films I watched as a child. The graphics are simple, but perfect, and like always, the scenery is beautiful! The characters are ones that you can relate to on a personal level and think about how you were as a kid. There are real life struggles that don't seem so far out of reach, but there is also hope in them. And then there's the fantasy, the magic, that spreads throughout the story as it introduces Totoro himself!

This is actually one of the most famous characters, and Totoro is also Studio Ghibli's logo that shows before every movie of theirs! (It's also my background on the blog!)

If you're interested in a good kid's movie with adventure, fun, and laughs, this is definitely one to watch!

Click the trailer below to take a peak at what this movie has to offer!